Who would've guessed
by Jett Kirkland
Summary: First of all, all credit goes to Merrine for giving me the idea of this. The first part (marked in underscores ) will be the original story 'I love you' by Merrine. After that, it's all me. I hope you don't think of this as a write-off, I myself think of it as an 'alternate ending'. PS: I'll also be changing Australia's name from Keith to Jett. PS: reviews would be appreciated
1. Chapter 1

**First of all, all credit goes to Merrine for giving me the idea of this. The first part (marked in _this_) will be the original story ****_'I love you'_**** by Merrine. After that, it's all me. I hope you don't think of this as a write-off, I myself think of it as an 'alternate ending'. **

**PS: I'll also be changing Australia's name from Keith to Jett.**

_Jett stepped forward again placing his hand on her cheek looking down at her eyes, he smiled closing his own feeling the softness of her skin. She was so harsh to him but he knew she was a sweet girl at heart and she was lonely.

He gasped feeling the blade slice across his cheek and stepped back looking at Natalia, "Don't touch me rat!"

"I'm sorry Natalia."

"I don't want to hear those words from you!" She hissed at him, "Words of a dirty street rat, I have every right in my mind to slice you in twain.'

"I deserve that."

"What are you a masochist?" She asked sneering slashing the blade across his face.

"Please stop calling me that, I hate pain!" He cried falling back into a corner looking up at her, she was truly amazing, strong hearted and beautiful.

"Then why do you keep picking fights with me," she asked bending down slowly drawing the knife down his chest smiling at his tears as they fell onto the blade, "it's almost like you want it." she said whispering into his ear.

"N-Natalia..." he coughed clutching his chest in pain, "I love you...why do you hate me so much?"

"What a stupid question," she replied moving his hands away delving the knife deeper and deeper into his chest.

Jett gasped coughing up blood, he grabbed up pulling Natalia down, and she glared at him, swishing another knife at him. "Don't touch me!"_

"You-you may not realize it, but you're doing something really stupid." Jett spluttered, and Natalia raised an eyebrow at his statement. "Arthur (England) and Kaelin (New Zealand) will be furious about this, and ol' Ivan (Russia) won't be too happy either, and I'm pretty sure you of all people don't want to make Ivan unhappy."

She stopped upon hearing his name, and then stared into nothing, contemplating on what had just been said, much to the pain of the man she had been stabbing. After finally realizing what she had done, a look of shock reached across her face. She dropped the knife in her hand and let go of the one in Jett's chest. "Oh god, what am I doing? Ivan will never forgive me if I did something like this!" She got down to her knees and started fumbling around, trying to figure out what to do. She then proceeded to remove the knife from his chest, which caused him to scream out in pain.

"Aaaaaaaaaggggghhh! That hurts you know!" Natalia then immediately stopped what she was doing and clasped her hands over her mouth.

"I'm-I'm sorry! I just don't know what to do!"

"Try calling an ambulance, see if- see if that helps." He said jokingly.

"Right, I'll go find a phone. Please don't die, Ivan and the others would never forgive me."

About a minute or so later, Belarus (Natalia) came back with America (Alfred). "Dude, Natalia told me what happened and we called an ambulance. Are you okay man?" He asked.

Jett Smiled. "Who, me? Nah I'm fine, just got stabbed in the chest, no big deal."

Alfred smiled back. "Nice to see your sense of humour is still intact."

"Come on, that's one of the things that will never leave me, you of all people should know that mate. So, you gonna help me get up or what?"

"Oh no, dude. You're staying right there until the ambulance arrives, but then again you don't have much of a choice."

"Fine, I'll wait. But if I die while we wait, I blame it on you." Jett joked. As the minutes went by waiting for the ambulance, others caught whiff of the trouble happening in the conference room. Of those people included Canada, Vietnam, Germany and Italy, all of them either waiting outside of the room or inside asking others what happened. A few painful minutes later the ambulance arrived, and Jett was whisked away, with Natalia and Alfred following suit.

**At the Hospital…**

Ivan and Arthur were standing outside Jett's hospital room, discussing about what happened earlier. Arthur was very angry about the situation, and Ivan was doing everything he could to calm him down and try and work out a 'peaceful' solution. "Look, I know she was just being herself, but being 'herself' nearly killed Jett! You're just lucky I didn't bring anybody else into this; otherwise this conversation might have been almost non-existent." Arthur said.

"I understand your pain, and believe me I didn't expect this, not even from Natalia." Ivan replied. "After hearing about what happened, I was just shocked. Something like this should not go unpunished, and I have already come up with an ample punishment, at least for someone like Natalia anyway."

"And what might that just be, out of curiosity?" Ivan walked up to him and whispered to him in his ear. "And you really think it'll work?"

"It might, it might not. Think about it; if nothing happens, so be it. But if it does actually work out, I think it could benefit all of us." They both peered into the room where Jett was to see Kaelin sitting next to his bed, head hung down and a look of sadness across her face.

"Are you even sure that Natalia will agree to this? I mean, she doesn't really care that much about anyone else but you."

"I have a good feeling that she will say yes, her willingness to make me happy and be with me is one of her few weaknesses. I don't really like the idea of exploiting this, but her attitude towards others is what made this happen in the first place. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go have a chat with Natalia." And with that, he walked away. Arthur then turned to join Kaelin just as Jett started to wake up.

"Well, nice to see you're awake. How're you feeling?" Arthur asked as he entered the room.

"Pretty crap, but then again I did get stabbed. Heya, Kaelin." Jett Replied cheerily. She smiled and gave him a hug. "Careful on the stitches sis, I don't want my chest bursting and opening up." She let go of him and blushed. "How long was I out?"

"You were only out for a few hours while they did the surgery. We were completely shocked when Alfred called us. What were you thinking, doing something like that? Everybody knows that Natalia only really cares about Ivan."

"Look, I knew that. I just wanted her to know how I felt about her, regardless of what she thought."

Arthur sighed. "Alright, I can understand that; just don't get stabbed again okay? It was enough of a shock that you got stabbed in the first place.

"No promises mate, but I'll try." Jett joked. They all smiled and laughed a little. "Anyway, how long till I can get out of here? It feels like my legs have detached from my body."

Kaelin stood up. "I'll go and ask the doctor, be back in a minute." She said as she walked out. Arthur sat down next to Jett, stealing Kaelin's seat.

"So, how'd Ivan react?" Jett asked. "Come on; tell me, what did he do when he found out?"

"Well first off, Ivan found Natalia and had a stern chat about what she had done, and how he was rather disappointed in her. He then went to me and had a chat about what her punishment should be." Arthur answered.

"And what did you decide her punishment should be, out of curiosity?"

"That you'll find out soon enough, and besides, don't you remember the old saying, curiosity killed the cat? I don't know about you; but I don't we need you dying right now, would you agree?" They both laughed. After a half a minute of silence, kaelin came back with a doctor.

"Ah, Mr Kirkland, good to see you're finally awake. I trust you're feeling better?" The doctor asked.

"Well, I'm, feeling as well as I can be considering the stab to the chest." Jett joked.

The doctor smirked. "Well, I've always known you were a joker, considering I have to keep seeing you every fortnight or so to check-up on your nose. You're a very lucky man. The knife didn't puncture any of your organs, but it did get dangerously close to your heart, another centimetre and the knife would've gone straight into it."

"Wow, I didn't know it was that serious. So, how long till I can get outta here doc? I'm itching to go do some surfing with Leilani (Hawaii) and Alfred." Jett said, quickly changing subject.

The doctor laughed. "Unfortunately surfing will have to wait for a while. You'll have to stay here for a day or two while the stitches let your flesh heal back together. Once you get out, you won't be able to do any strenuous activities for about two weeks."

"Two weeks? Well, that sucks. Guess I can't really do anything about it, so I'll just stay here. Just make sure the TV here has some decent channels, or I'm outta here."

Everybody laughed. "Well, I'll do my best. Now if that's all, I have some other patients to attend to." And with that, the doctor walked away.

"Well I gotta go," Kaelin said standing up. "Don't worry about your house; I'll look after it while you're here."

"Thanks sis, just make sure to feed the koala, he doesn't like it when he's not fed." Jett said. She smiled as she left. "Well I don't know about you, but I think these next few days are going to be boring as hell."

Over the course of the next few days, Jett was visited by quite a few people, bringing him a mix of gifts, get well cards and flowers. Alfred brought him half a season of _Superman_ comics, of which Jett read through in less than 3 hours ,being as bored as he was. Feliciano (Italy) and Ludwig (Germany) brought him some homemade spaghetti and meatballs, which all three of them enjoyed. Matthew (Canada), Kiku (Japan), Peter (Sealand), Antonio (Spain), Irunya (Ukraine) and Carlos (Cuba) sent a post card from the Caribbean saying how much they missed him and how much they wanted him to come with them, as they always loved an aussie barbeque. Among these cards and gifts, Francis (France) sent a rose, to which Jett immediately threw in the bin. After about 3 days, Jett finally got the all clear to go home. As he was heading out of his room, he heard Natalia and Ivan having a conversation in the hallway.

"But Ivan, do I have to? You know I don't, so why are you making me do this?" Natalia asked with great disdain.

"Because," Ivan replied "It's your fault he's in here in the first place. The least you can do is make it up to him. Besides, he says he does, so I don't see why you shouldn't make it up to him like this."

"But **I** don't love him!" She sighed. "You know what, never mind. If it makes you happy, I'll do it."

Ivan smiled. "That's good to hear, now he should be up by now, so why don't you go ask him?"

"Ask me what, Ivan?" Jett said, causing them to jump.

"Ah Jett, there you are! I do believe Natalia has something to say to you." He said, ushering her closer to Jett. She stumbled forward, with a somewhat uncomfortable look across her face.

"Umm, I was wondering, if, maybe… you'd like to…go out with me?"


	2. Chapter 2

It had been two and a half weeks since Natalia had asked that fateful question to Jett in the hospital, and neither of them had complained about their awkward 'relationship'. Natalia was going along with it so she could make Ivan happy, and Jett didn't really have that much of a choice. He wasn't complaining though. However, things were going to take a turn; one that no one would've seen coming. It was one night, when they were having a 'romantic' dinner at a restaurant run by Feliciano, that Jett finally got a proper answer about their feelings for each other from Natalia.

"Look," Jett said, putting down his fork. "I'm not sure I can take this anymore. I need a question answered, and I'd like a proper answer, not a knife to the chest." Natalia looked up at him. "Why do you hate me so much? I mean, I know that you want Ivan and all that, but why shut everyone else out of your life? To be honest that way of treating people will be the end of you one day."

Natalia sighed and looked at him. "Alright, I'll tell you the truth. When I was little, Ivan was the one who raised me along with Irunya. During that time I…developed feelings for him. Unfortunately, he didn't see me the same way that I saw him. To this day, I've been trying to get him to see things my way. After a while, I noticed others interacting with him, and I figured they were out to steal him from me. I guess the feeling stuck with me, because no one really wants to really hang around him that much and no one wants to hang around me at all."

"That's not true."

She raised her head at him. "Really, it's not?"

"Of course not; if it was, I wouldn't be here! Am I right?"

She blushed. "I…I guess you're right." She finished her meal and then glanced at her watch. "Oh my goodness, it 8:00 already! I better go."

Jett glanced at his watch too. "Hmm, so it is. Come on, I'll walk you home."

"That's not necessary, I-"

"Oh no, I insist, after all, you gave me an answer to the question I've been looking for." Jett said. She blushed again and they left the restaurant. As they were walking down the street, Natalia looked at what Jett was wearing.

"You know, what you're wearing wasn't that fashionable for a 'date'." She said. Jett looked down at his shirt. It was a black polo top, with a Fern leaf and NZ in white on one side and a Wattle and AUS on the other. He smiled.

"Oh, this? This is my lucky top I got from Kaelin for Christmas last year."

"Well, you weren't wearing it when I…stabbed you." She said.

"Exactly." He replied. They both broke out into small laughter. During this time, the pair had failed to notice where they were going, as they had accidentally turned down into a dead end street. They found out when they reached the end of the street, and as they were about to turn around and go back out the way they came in, some thugs came out of the shadow. All of them were wearing hoodies and most of them were brandishing some kind of weapon. One was carrying a baseball bat, another carrying brass knuckles. Two of them were carrying flick knives and another four of them were unarmed, making a grand total of eight, sinister (if somewhat dumb) street punks.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? A pair of lovebirds, lost on their way back to the nest." The leader of them said. He then turned his attention to Natalia, who was cowering behind Jett. "Ooh, we got a pretty one over here. Don't beat her up too bad boys; we might wanna have some 'fun' with her later." They all let out an evil chuckle. Meanwhile, Jett was observing the thugs, looking at their weapons and their faces, trying to work out which ones were going to attack first.

"Back off, or I swear I'll beat your faces in!" Jett cried out. They snickered at his threat.

"Oh yeah, what are ya gonna do, huh?" The leader said, reaching out to try and grab Natalia. That was a BIG mistake, as Jett wrapped his left arm around the leader's extended one. He then kneed him in the crotch before elbowing him in the back of the neck. The man collapsed on the ground in less than two seconds. Everybody just looked at him gobsmacked, including Natalia.

"I learned martial arts from Kiku in my spare time, comes quite in handy whenever Francis is around." Jett said, smiling. The thug leader was crawling across the ground, barely able to do anything.

"Don't just stand there, GET HIM!" He shouted. They fumbled as they went to attack Jett. The one with the baseball bat attacked first. He took a wild swing, and Jett easily avoided it. Grabbing the bat at both ends, Jett hit the attacker in the head with it before kicking him in the gut, causing him to fly back. He then broke the bat with his knee before tossing the splintered remains aside.

Meanwhile, the two guys with knives went after Natalia. She slowly backed herself to a wall, and picked up a bottle that was lying around. She swung it at one of them, which hit him square on the side of the side of the head. The other one, now pissed off at what she did, attacked her. She raised her arms in front of her face, and her arm took the blow. She screamed and clutched her arm in pain. Hearing this, Jett turned his attention to the thug attacking Natalia.

The thug with brass knuckles swung at him, hitting him in the chest. Jett clutched his chest, and seeing his weakness, he attacked again. Realizing what the thug was doing, Jett intercepted his punch, and twisted his hand. He then grabbed him, and tossed him into the guy that was attacking Natalia. The two of them collided together and careered into a wall, knocking themselves out. Just then, the weather took a turn for the worst. It started to pour down heavily with rain, creating an eerily looking scene.

The remaining four of the original eight men weren't so confident now, after they just witnessed the takedown of the other four, who had been armed no less. They watched as Jett turned around and walk towards them, with a face that showed no mercy. Two of them started to back away slowly, before taking off in directions that weren't towards him. The other two looked at each other, before blindly swinging themselves at him simultaneously. Jett just grabbed their heads and smacked them together, watching them slump down next to each other. He then quickly turned back and ran towards Natalia.

"Natalia, are you okay?" Jett said as he crouched down beside her.

"No, they cut my arm." She showed him her arm; it wasn't a deep cut, but it was still bloody and it was hard for her to look at.

"Hang on, I'll try and stop the bleeding. Lucky for you, I learned a few things about first aid in hospital." Jett then did something that she did not expect. He took off his shirt, and then tied it around the cut on her arm.

"Jett, your shirt-"

"It can be washed; what's more important is that you don't bleed to death." She looked up at Jett, who was smiling. She then looked down, and noticed his masculine toned chest, along with the healing scar that tore down the middle.

"Jett…thank you, for what you did just now. If it wasn't for you I-"

"It's no problem; I'm a caring person after all."

"No, that's not it."

"It's not?" Jett asked, confused by what she just said.

"No." She made her voice sound more sincere. "You see, when you expressed your love to me in the conference room, I was shutting you out, fearing that you would separate me from Ivan and to be honest; a part of me still thinks that. But after all the kindness you've shown me over the past week or so, you've managed to change my perspectives on things."

"Natalia, just what exactly are you saying?"

"Jett, I…I love you!" She cried out before locking his lips to hers, wrapping her arms around his neck. Jett was somewhat stunned at this, but quickly understood what she had said. He wrapped his arms around her back and they continued to kiss in the pouring rain.

**Several months later**

"I still can't believe you managed to do it." Arthur said, standing next to Ivan. "I mean you've pretty much managed to accomplish the impossible."

Ivan smiled. "On the contrary, I merely brought them together, they did the rest. If anything, Jett is the one you should be admiring. He went through quite a bit in the whole ordeal, both physically and emotionally, all while continuing to be his cheery self. On top of that, as you mentioned before, he's managed to get Natalia to think of someone other than myself." They were standing on a balcony overlooking a park, where Jett and Natalia were happily chatting with each other.

"Can I ask you a question Ivan?" Arthur asked.

"Sure, what is it?"

"Did you actually think that your plan would actually work, back when you told me at the hospital?"

"To be perfectly honest…I had no idea, but it seems to be working just fine, wouldn't you agree?" They both laughed as they headed back inside. Meanwhile, Jett and Natalia were strolling around the park, happier to be together than they ever would have been apart. Holding hands, they walked over to a fountain in the middle of the park.

"I'm so happy to be with you," Jett said "and I wouldn't rather be anywhere else."

Natalia giggled. "Oh, you're so sweet. Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"I know this is sweet and all, but why did you bring me here? It's absolutely beautiful, but it wasn't what I pictured when you said you had something special planned for me."

"I know; it's not, but I had something VERY special planned, and this was the best spot I could think of for the occasion."

"And what might this occasion be, may I ask?" Natalia inquired. Just then, out of nowhere, nearly everyone that they knew appeared around them. Alfred, Antonio, Feliciano, Kiku, Ludwig, Matthew, Peter, Carlos, Irunya, Arhur and Ivan were there along with many others (including Francis, unfortunately). "Jett, what's going on?"

Jett just smiled and fished something out from his pocket, before getting down on one knee. She looked at what he had taken out of his pocket. It was a small, red box. He opened it and inside was a gold ring. "Natalia…will you marry me?"

She shed tears of joy, before taking the ring and sliding it on her finger. "Yes, I will!" They then hugged, as everyone cheered at their newfound engagement. Arthur and Ivan then stepped up to them, and smiled, before giving them each a warm hug.

"I hate to admit it Jett, but you did good. Well done." Arthur said.

"You are a very lucky woman Natalia, I am truly proud of you for what you've done." Ivan said. Natalia beamed with one of the biggest smiles she had ever made in her life, before re-joining Jett, who was leading everyone to the party he had planned (but not mentioned to anyone) beforehand.

_I love you Natalia. _

_As I am thinking this, I am sure you feel the same way, even though you may not have to begin with._

_What happened during those fateful weeks, I don't think anyone could have predicted. But even so, they still happened, to the surprise of everyone, including me._

_I hope that the bond between us stays strong forever, no matter what happens._

_I love you Natalia, I love you with all my heart._


End file.
